Rawal Dam ‘poisoning’: Water supply to Rawalpindi restored

ISLAMABAD: The supply of water from Rawal Dam to Rawalpindi has been restored, authorities said.

The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) on Saturday stated that poison had not been found in the dam’s water, after a large number of fish were reported ‘dead from poisoning’ at the Rawal Dam.

Following the development, water supply to Rawalpindi was initially suspended on the request of Wasa.

In a statement on Saturday night, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Capt (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed said the National Agricultural Research Centre has tested the water and declared that no abnormality has been found. However, the fish and water samples have also been sent to the National Institute of Health and Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources for further tests.

The statement also said that samples have also been sent to the Forensic Science Lab in Lahore.

A criminal case was also registered by the Secretariat police on Wednesday against a ‘local mafia’ for pouring poison into the dam.

According to the FIR lodged by the Punjab Fisheries Department, people from the mafia were stopped from fishing and boating in the dam as it is banned. Subsequently, states the report, the irked mafia added poisonous substance to the water that has killed nearly 240 tonnes of fishes so far.

The dam provides an estimated 24 million gallons of water to Rawalpindi every day.